Brown Bag: Project Heartbeat

Dick Burch started Project Heartbeat in 2008 when he was president of the Wallowa County Rotary Club. Dick and Heartbeat started putting AED–Automated External Defibrillator–devices in schools and businesses across the county. And training people to use them.

We are now all more aware of the importance of a rapid response in getting failed hearts going with the recent case of the Buffalo Bills football player. The quick response on the field probably saved his life, and surely increased Damar Hamlin’s chances for a full recovery.

There are now 111 AEDs in Wallowa County. It’s been a labor of love for Dick Burch, who continues to raise money for new AEDs and new batteries for the existing ones. Dick’s Brown Bag discussion will describe how and why he started the project, and the subject of heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrest in general. “What causes cardiac arrest? How is it treated in an out-of-hospital setting?” He’ll show a five-minute video which covers the whole episode of a high school volleyball player collapsing on the court and the phenomenal response which saved the girl’s life.

The Brown Bag with Dick Burch is scheduled for noon on Tuesday, February 7. Brown
Bags are free and open to the public. It will be streamed on the Josephy Center’s YouTube channel, but there will not be zoom interaction.